Hand-book of Volapük/Prefixes

by Charles E. Sprague

---

PREFIXES. Words formed by prefixing syllables are in reality a kind of compounds in which the first part is intimately blended with the second. For example, in glezif, a capital, composed of

prefix gle- + noun zif,
greattown;

zif is the principal word and gle- the determinant.

Gle- is a contraction of the adjectiv gletik or of its radical glet, greatness. Many other prefixes are similarly formed from nouns and adjectivs.

Sma-, from smalik, small; smabed, nest (little bed).

 

Blä-, from blägik, black; Bläfot, the Black Forest.

 

Vie-, from vietik, white; viebod, white bread.

 

Ba-, from bal, one; bafom, uniformity.

 

Mö-, from mödik, many, much; möpükik, polyglot; möflanik, many-sided.

 

Si-, from sil, heaven; prefix for constellations or zodiacal signs: Sijip, Aries; Sijutel, Saggitarius; Sifits, Pisces.

 

Nolü-, Sulü-, Lefü-, Vesü-, from Nolüd, Sulüd, Lefüd, Vesüd, North, South, East, West; Nolümelop, North America; Vesünidän, West Indies.

 

Bä-, from bapik, low, and vä-, from valik, all, with a change of vowel.

 

Other prefixes are simple prepositions, and most of them can be so used.

Bevü, between, inter-; bevünetik, international.

 

Bif, before (in place), contracted to bi-, pre-; bisiedön, to preside.

 

De, from: de-, ab-, off-, away; defal, falling off; defiledön, to burn off; deyulön, to abjure.

 

Ko-, ke-; with; com-, con-, syn-; koköm, coming together; kelied, compassion; kevobel, colaborer; kezenodön, to concentrate.

 

Len-, towards, ad-; lenpük, address; lensumön, to assume, take to one's-self.

 

Love-, over, super-; lovedugön, to lead over; lovelogön, to overlook; lovepenäd, superscription, something written over; lovepolam, translation.

 

There are also prefix-syllables which never occur separately and are not contractions of other words. The following are the most important of these inseparable prefixes:

Ne-, negativ, or contrary; un-, in-, dis-, non-, -less; neflen, enemy (unfriend); nelab, want (opposit of lab, possession); det, right [hand]; nedet, left; nedanik, ungrateful; nebin, non-existence.

Le-; intensiv; very, highly, chief, arch; legudik, very good; legletik, very great; lebijop, archbishop; lezif, large city (glezif is a capital). Gle- indicates the highest or most important of its kind.

Lu-, small, insignificant, bad or contemptible. This prefix is frequently used where in English we use different words. Beg, a request, lubegel, a beggar, mendicant; lufat, a step-father; lak, a lake, lulak, a pond; sanel, a physician, lusanel, a quack; sölel, a ruler, lusölel, a tyrant; vomik, feminin, luvomik, effeminate.

(See suffix -il for a list of augmentativs and diminutivs.)

Ge-, back, re-; gepük, reply; gekipön, to keep back.

Be- is said to strengthen the meaning of the radical; it frequently means to cause or confer the thing expressed by the radical.

Da- denotes the completion of an action or the attainment of an object.